Women Are From Earth, Men Are From Krypton
by turbomagnus
Summary: A collection of my Smallville shorts, drabbles and snippets, works that aren't long enough to be stories on their own. Despite the title, not all of them will involve pairings. Characters, situations and any pairings that do appear may vary.
1. Blood Money

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. This is The 365 Project, 1 March.

Yes, the collection title is a play on "Women Are From Venus, Men Are From Mars", I just thought it too funny to use, even if not all the shorts collected within would involve pairings.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. The song 'Blood Money' is from "Young Guns II" and is performed by Bon Jovi and also used without permission or intent to profit.

But man, does it ever fit Clark and Lex, especially the Smallville versions... Consider this a finale AU - Lex killed Tess, but didn't lose his memory in the process and now is being confronted by Clark.

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"Blood Money"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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"Once I thought nothing could come in between us. Who would have thought we'd let a cruel world defeat us? Who ever thought that those feelings would change? Whatever happened to us? I called you my friend, Clark, you were like a brother to me..."

"This isn't about me, Lex, and it's not about you," Clark replied, "Or even the good or the bad times we've both been through."

"I see," Lex frowned, "I suppose when the lines between 'brothers' and 'justice' have changed, you've got to do what you've got to do, Clark."

"You're right on that at least," Clark nodded firmly, "I told you once what I'd have to do if you ever went after anyone close to me again."

"Anyone close to you," Lex snarled, "Once, _I_ was 'anyone close to you', Clark!"

"If that hadn't already ended when you decided being recognised by Lionel as his son was more important than your friends," Clark corrected, "It definitely has with the things you've done since then."

"I've done?" Lex retorted, "Things I've done? What about you, Clark? What about things you've done? Who made you the arbitrator of right and wrong? What gives you the right to decide who dies and who lives and then _how_ they should live? Where do you get off lecturing me about things I've done when you're a hundred-times worse, not least of which because you blame _everyone else_ for _your_ actions, Clark? It's always your parents, or Chloe, or Lana, or Lionel or me - it's never your fault, is it, Clark? - Not even when you decided your secrets were more important than our _friendship_."

"Stop trying to change the subject, Lex," Clark snapped, cutting his hand through the air between them, "You killed Tess. Why?"

"No, Clark," Lex shot back, "_You _killed her. Just like everyone else you've lost, she died because of you. She died because you let her get too close, because you let her get involved in your life. I would have just let her go, let her play with her fish and forgotten, but she had to care about you more than her own blood. It's better this way, trust me."

"You're insane," Clark realised.

"No, I finally see the truth - you, Clark, you're a bigger threat than any meteor freak or criminal you've ever stopped. You're too powerful, too uncontrollable. You have the power to move _planets_ and the only thing keeping you from turning it on the rest of us is what you were taught by the Kents. What happens if that disappears, Clark? What happens when you decide that stopping crimes isn't enough, it's better if you create a world where crime doesn't even exist? Who is supposed to stop you then? I'm going to destroy you before that ever happens, Clark. It's nothing personal, really, it's just business."

Clark slowly shook his head, "I came here hoping you regretted what you've done, Lex, that there was something left of my old friend. But there's not, is there, _Luthor_?"

He didn't wait for an answer, instead he turned and walked towards the plate-glass windows, easily shattering one of the panes of glass with a punch and stepping out to hover in mid-air before turning to look back at Lex.

"For all the problems I've had with both my fathers," Clark said with a cold finality, "You've become yours."

Then he shot up into the sky and away.


	2. Breakfast in Smallville

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. This is The 365 Project, 8 March. Hey, I just realised; we're down to less than three hundred days to go.

Inspired by a certain scene from The Breakfast Club. AU in that Tess is the same age as Clark and is also attending Smallville High.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

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"Breakfast In Smallville"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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* * *

"Long story short, a few years after Lillian Luthor died, Lionel slept with his son's nanny and got her pregnant and before he could send us away the press got ahold of the story, so he ended up sending my mother to live in a mansion outside of Smallville," Tess snorted, "He married her, for whatever that's worth. But it's not like we're a family, more like we're a publicity stunt for him to pull out whenever he wants to show what a good family man he is and stuck back out of sight in a mansion he never visits when it's done. It makes me so mad that I like to return the favor whenever I get a chance; one of these days I'm hoping I can make him lose it and reveal the _real _Lionel Luthor in public where he can't cover it up..."

"Uh, about the mansion..."

Tess shook her head, "It's supposed to be the 'Luthor ancestral home'. Lionel had it shipped over from Scotland piece by piece and rebuilt in Smallville for my mother and me to live in. Not because he's sentimental about it or us, just to prove that he could do it."

"Actually, I was going to ask if it wasn't lonely; big mansion with just the two of you," Clark paused, "Well, three now that Lionel's shipped your brother out here too."

"You wouldn't expect it with a house full of staff, but yeah," Tess sighed, "It can be - they're all pretty much spies for Lionel and all my mother does is spend her days beside the pool working on her tan. If it wasn't for Lex, I wouldn't have anyone else there at all."

"The same Lex I pulled from the river after he almost hit me?" Clark raised an eyebrow, "The prince of smug self-importance?"

"Okay, yeah, he's an ass sometimes, but he's like that to everyone," Tess answered, "I'd be careful if I were you, Clark - he pays more attention to you then he has to some of his girlfriends; I think he might have a crush."

"Maybe we should set him up with Chloe - let them get over me together," Clark joked.

"I thought you didn't know Chloe liked you that way," Tess looked at him in surprise.

"That's what I want everyone to think," Clark replied, "I'm just not interested. Chloe has no concept of privacy and I'm a private person, it wouldn't work out so there's no use ruining our friendship over it."

"Clark Kent thinks about relationships with people other than Lana Lang?" Tess teased, "Someone call the Daily Planet, this is news."

Deciding to turn the tables, Clark countered, "Yeah, I guess dating the Luthor heiress would be on page six."

Tess's jaw dropped in shock, "What did you just say?"

"You said you liked finding ways to make Lionel mad," Clark commented as he reached out and ran a hand through Tess's scarlet tresses, "Wouldn't his only daughter dating a Kansas farmboy be great for that?"

Tess took his hand and moved it from her hair, but didn't release it, "What would your parents say about you dating a Luthor?"

"Probably nothing good, but you know what?" Clark chuckled, bringing the hand holding his up to his lips and kissing the back of it, "I've got to rebel sometime."


	3. Old Flames, New Names

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. This is The 365 Project, 9 March. Hey, I just realised; we're down to less than three hundred days to go.

Poor Ollie, he goes away for two years to finish learning the art of archery from a couple teachers Batman suggests and when he comes back, he has to update his address book entries for Tess Kent, Lois Wayne, Lana Luthor and Chloe Bloom. AU considering the pairing and the lack of characters being dead.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. "Old Flames Have New Names" is performed by Mark Chesnutt and also is used without permission or intent to profit.

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"Old Flames, New Names"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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"Don't you think you've had enough?" The bartender asked, getting an incredulous look from the man sitting at the bar.

"I'm _drinking_," Oliver Queen reminded him, "People who drink generally either don't know when they've had enough or they don't care - I'm the don't care."

The bartender nodded in acknowledgement of that fact, "The law says I'm not allowed to serve anyone who is legally drunk, and let's face it; you are one drunk guy."

"I'm so drunk, you think you can stop me..." Ollie smirked as he leaned across the bar, "Try and stop me."

The bartender sighed and reached for a bottle and a glass and began to fill the glass, "Your funeral, Mister Queen."

"Oh, you know who I am," Ollie commented as the bartender sat the glass down in front of him.

"In my line of work, helps to read the papers," the bartender shrugged, "You're all over the front page, Mister Queen; 'Another Queen Industries CEO sabbatical ends after two years'."

"Yep," Ollie gulped down part of his drink, "That's me, unfortunately."

"So, two years off, huh?"

Ollie nodded, "Finishing my education, you could say."

What Ollie didn't say was that he had been finishing an education in archery and martial arts thanks to some instructors that Batman had put him in touch with, ones that he didn't have the same problem with that he had with with others.

"Most people would celebrate that with wine or something, not cheap whisky," the bartender observed.

"Oh, I was gonna celebrate with 'something'," Ollie lifted his glass in a mock salute, "This is the booby-prize."

"It usually is," the bartender agreed.

"Do you know how long two years is?" Ollie asked, "Two - it's such a low number, really, but when you add the years to it, it might as well be ten or twenty some times. I got back in town and decided I wanted to celebrate, so I decided to call an old girlfriend up... Her husband answered the phone."

"Was she married before you left?"

"Nope," Ollie downed more of his drink, "And here's the fun part; her new husband is one of my best friends and he took my call as the perfect opportunity to ask if I'd be the godfather when their first child is born in about six weeks."

"Are you going to accept?"

"I'm going to drink," Ollie countered, taking another drink from his glass, "That was just the first call; I tried another three before I gave up; got two newlyweds and then another expectant mother on the third call. Two years, might as well have been five or ten, a hundred maybe, for all that."

"Sorry to hear that," this time, the bartender didn't need to be asked, he refilled Ollie's low glass without question; it seemed like the other man needed it.

"The worst part is that I know most of the husbands, they're good men and, hell, they'll probably treat them better than me," Ollie took a drink from the refreshed glass, "Just wish to hell I had looked over the news for the last couple years first so I wouldn't have gotten blindsided with any of this."

"Wedding announcements?"

"Society pages," Ollie corrected, "Where else would two Luthors and a Wayne have their weddings displayed? I probably would have had to find Chloe in the wedding announcements, though; her husband's a paramedic, so they probably wouldn't make the society pages."

The bartender thought for a moment, then remembered, Bruce Wayne of Gotham had married a reporter named Lois Lane; and Lex Luthor had married a girl named Lana Lang... and Lex's half-sister Tess Mercer had married her brother's best friend, a guy named Clark Kent.

He looked at the bottle and shook his head, pushing it across the bar to where Ollie could get at it easy, "Here, pal, keep the bottle. Just let me know when you're done so I can call you a cab, alright?"

"Thanks," Ollie answered, sliding a folded bill back across to the bartender, "And you can keep the change."

Then Ollie drained his glass and picked up the bottle to refill it again.

-o0O0o-

* * *

Author's Note: Married for less than a year and one on the way... Yeah, appearantly the Kents didn't waste any time, did they? I included a nod to a sci-fi movie I like - B-grade, I guess - but I'll be surprised if anyone gets it. I'll give a hint to anyone trying to guess; "Crash and burn".


	4. Reckless

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. This is The 365 Project, 14 March.

Another "Lionel sends Tess to Smallville"-based story idea. Not originally intended to be in the same universe as "Breakfast in Smallville", but it could be taken as such.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. "Reckless" is performed by Alabama and also is used without permission or intent to profit.

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"Reckless"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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It was a late Kansas afternoon, if the two occupants of the pickup truck sitting by the roadside had been in school it would have been last period, but they had skipped - not that the family of one cared or of either knew. Individually, they were the unwanted daughter of a millionaire industrialist who was only claimed for publicity's sake and the adopted son of a Kansas farm couple who wanted him to hide who and what he was from everyone; together, though, they knew they were something more than that, something special, something super. That's what they were; together.

"Smallville; meteor capital of the world, home of a fertiliser plant and a bunch of space rocks that can hurt my boyfriend," Tess Mercer sighed, leaning against said boyfriend in the cab of his pickup, "There's nothing out here but a big Kansas sky and a red sun painted across the coming night."

"Poetic," Clark Kent quipped, "Maybe the town should hire you to promote tourism."

"Maybe they should realise that most people don't think 'Meteor Capital of the World' is a good place to visit and those that do are the same people who go to see the 'World's Largest Thermometer' and the 'Birthplace of Velcron'," Tess countered.

Clark frowned, "I guess that's why most people our age plan to leave Smallville as soon as they get the chance; Metropolis, Star City, and even Gotham can be more attractive than a place that lives off a meteor shower that happened almost twenty years ago."

"Plans?" Tess snorted, "I don't want to hear about plans. I was planning to become a Marine Biologist; I don't know what kind of plans Lex had; my mother's only plan for her life seems to be spending as much of it lounging by the pool as she can... and none of that matters to Lionel since's he's got his own plans for us."

"Lionel's got plans for you and my parents think I'm at school..." Clark shook his head, then suddenly reached out to crank the engine, "They say it's reckless to chase your dreams, but this town's got nothing for you and me... Let's get out of here, just get on the road and start driving. I could care less where it leads us, I just don't think I can stand another day in this town with its expectations and prejudices."

"What about our families and friends?" Tess asked, sitting up as Clark put his hands on the wheel.

"They can't live our lives for us; if we let them, we'll lose our love," Clark answered, "I'd rather be reckless and on the run."

"Running from who?"

Clark closed his eyes, "Lionel, Jor-El, the Kents, anyone... Everyone has someone they want us to be... maybe it's time we do what we want for ourselves for a change."

"Clark..." Tess reached out and put a hand on his arm, "Are you asking me to run away with you?"

He moved his head to look her in the eyes, "At least don't tell anyone I've gone until you have to if you're not coming. "

"Who said I'm not coming?" Tess demanded, "When you're crazy in love, you've got to take a chance... burn the bridge and don't look back."

Clark smiled, "Okay, buckle up. Once we get on the road, I'll keep the pedal to the floor until we see the morning light."

"Let's roll the windows down, turn the radio up and let the wind blow through our hair," Tess suggested, causing Clark to become mentally distracted for a moment at the thought of how she would look with her scarlet tresses blowing in the wind.

Tess laughed at the look on his face, "Keep your hands on the wheel and your mind on the road, farmboy."

When she laughed like that, Clark had the sudden urge to head west and start counting the days left until his eighteenth birthday...


	5. The Brides of March

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. This is The 365 Project, 15 March.

A "Smallville" wedding from a completely different point of view.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

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"The Brides Of March"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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"Beware the Ides of March."

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-o0o-

'Beware the Ides of March.'

Shakespeare wrote those words in his play 'Julius Caesar'. In the play, they were spoken by a soothsayer warning Caesar of his impending demise. In recent months, I've come up with a better version.

'Beware the _Brides _of March.'

Give me a dozen murderous conspirators and a traitorous friend over one 'bride-zilla' any day, seriously. I can understand having a wedding you've dreamt of since you were a little girl; I can understand wanting everything to go right on your big day... But I guess I'm just in the wrong business, because I can't understand the extremes some people are willing to go to; how some brides-to-be can turn on their oldest friends or closest family simply for making a small suggestion that isn't even a bad idea.

It's enough to make me consider giving up being a wedding planner for something less stressful - lion tamer, maybe - and there always seems to be more of it in March, hence 'Beware the Brides of March'. It's crazy and sometimes I just can't make sense out of the things the 'Brides of March' insist on. Like this current one for example; she wants a blue wedding dress, not sky blue or powder blue, but deep ocean blue; instead of roses or orchids, she wants a bouquet of water lily flowers, why? I haven't the faintest idea. Just like I haven't the faintest idea why the groom plans to wear a white tuxedo instead of the traditional black, with a necktie and a fancy shield-shaped tie-pin instead of a bowtie. I asked and the only answer I got regarding it was something about 'different cultures have different traditions'. That's like the fountain; they want an actual fountain with water at the reception, 'big enough for someone to lie down in', they said. Is dunking someone in water part of these mysterious 'different traditions'? A custom made cake-topper that looks like the bride and groom isn't strange, but why do they insist on it being so... sexist as to have the groom carrying the bride like she's some kind of damsel in distress and just give each other this sappy look whenever the subject of a less objectifying cake-topper is brought up.

And then there's the weirdest thing; the bride demanded lead walls around her dressing room - is she mad? What possible reason could she have for wanting lead walls? It's not like someone's going to use a portable x-ray machine to spy on her wedding preparations, after all.


	6. Little Sister

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. This is The 365 Project, 16 March.

Gasp in shock as it's a rarely-seen planned sequel to an earlier short! Therefore, it definitely helps in understanding the background if one reads "Old Flames, New Names" first. Ollie has to leave for another sabbatical and has a certain request for the woman he's involved with at the time.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

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"Little Sister"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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"Little Sister, don't you do what your big sister done." - 'Little Sister', Dwight Yoakam

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-o0o-

There were a bunch of unwritten rules to dating; 'Never date your best friend's sister', 'Never date a friend's ex', 'Never date your ex's sister'. Oliver Queen never really paid much attention to them, most of the people he knew broke them anyway. Clark Kent was probably the worst violator; he had dated and married his best friend's half-sister who also happened to double as one of Ollie's own ex's. There wasn't really much anybody could do to beat that. Not that Ollie didn't give it a good try; after all, he did have a reputation to live down to.

At least, that's the excuse both of them gave whenever anyone asked Oliver Queen or Lucy Lane about their relationship. It was easier for most people to believe than it was to accept the fact that a millionaire womaniser with a habit of vanishing for long periods could be in a serious relationship, maybe even in love, with a former compulsive gambler who because of that got into almost as many dangerous situations as her reporter sibling. It might have been difficult to understand for most people, but it worked for them.

Maybe that was true of all good relationships.

"You know, Ollie," Lucy shook her head with a sigh, "You keep disappearing like this and people are gonna talk."

"Let 'em," Ollie shrugged, "I guarantee they'll never guess the truth; more like I'm some alien invader returning home to make reports, probably."

"You're Green Arrow, not a 'little green man'," Lucy got a hungry look and trailed her eyes across Ollie's body, "I should know, I've looked."

"Okay, one, John would probably take offense at the 'little green man' joke, and two, Clark's not human and he looks just like us," Ollie pointed out.

Lucy rolled her eyes, "I'm trying to seduce you one last time before you go off wherever it is you go and you're talking about other guys - way to kill the mood, Queen."

"Sorry," Ollie countered, "But last time I said 'goodbye' to a woman that way, I came back to find her married and I'd rather not have a repeat of that performance."

"Which one was that?" Ollie mumbled something in response, causing Luca to hold her hand up so that the light reflected off her long, polished nails, "I can't hear you..."

"It was Chloe," Ollie answered louder.

"Chloe?" Lucy looked at him in disbelief, "The same Chloe who always talked about how 'meteor freaks' were such a big threat and then went and married an alien, that Chloe?"

"She's not that bad," Ollie tried to defend her, only to wince at the look Lucy gave him, "Okay, she is that bad, but she tries not to be. She can't help it, old habits die hard."

"Chloe, Tess, Lana, Lois," Lucy sighed, "Face it, Ollie, your taste in women sucks."

"What about you?"

"According to Lois, my taste in men sucks, so we're even," Lucy deadpanned.

"Considering she married the only 'millionaire playboy' with a worse reputation than I've got," Oliver pointed out, "She doesn't have much room to talk."

"I tried telling her that," Lucy snorted, "She actually told me that I don't know 'the real Bruce Wayne'."

"Did she? Or does she? I'm not sure which is the better question, to tell you the truth," Ollie remarked.

"I told her that she didn't know the real Oliver Queen, so she didn't have any room to talk," Lucy answered.

"And who is 'the real Oliver Queen'?" Ollie asked.

"An arrogant jerk and a lovable rogue," Lucy told him, "Someone who knows what he wants to be even if he doesn't know how to be it... Someone to whom being a hero is something worth living for, but not his entire life. A guy who can only be described by saying 'That's Ollie for you'. That's the real Oliver Queen."

"Wow," Ollie remarked with a grin, "That was almost hot - ow!"

Lucy had elbowed him in the ribs, "Like I said to start, 'Arrogant jerk'."

Rubbing his side, Ollie joked, "This mean that I won't have your husband answering the phone when I get back?"

"Not hardly."

"You're sure?" Ollie remarked teasingly, "I've heard Wayne has some kind of foster son or adopted son, something like that who he's helped raised."

"Hell, no!" Lucy swore, "Lois is bad enough as my sister, I don't need her as some kind of weird stepmother-in-law or something like that!"

"So I'll still be able to see you when I get back?" Ollie asked.

"Let's put it this way, hot-shot," Lucy shot back with a gleam in her eyes, "If you don't leave, you'll never get your 'welcome back' present."


	7. Countdown

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. This is The 365 Project, 21 March. March 21, 3-21, 3-2-1... Countdown Day! Yes, I know, I'm weird sometimes.

Time is counting down. Future-fic.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. Minor references to "Batman Beyond" and the DCAU.

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"Countdown"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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Three...

They had been a trinity growing up, a trio, a three-legged stool someone had once called them, closer than friends and more inseperable. But sometimes the only thing worse than knowing a friend's secrets is not knowing them. Between the three of them, it had gone both ways and even the best-made stool can break with enough weight. Pete hadn't been able to bear the weight of knowing Clark's secret and Chloe the weight of _not_ knowing and by the end of high school, their trinity was broken. It might not have been so bad if Lex's being dead-set on becoming his father hadn't damaged that friendship as well, combined with the effects of Chloe's strange _need_ to find and share everyone's secrets and the fall-out with his parents hadn't left Clark with no one to turn to for support...

* * *

-o0o-

Two...

That _need _of Chloe's to know and share things had destroyed their friendship because it overtook any other sense of responsibility, friendship or caution. Clark may have let her back into his life, but they were never close friends like they had been, not after Alicia's death, not after Chloe had caused him to lose _his wife_ by drawing attention to Alicia and her powers and he couldn't forgive or forget that. Just like he couldn't forgive or forget the fact that Lex had killed Tess; while he had been saving the world from Darkseid's Apokolips, he had been losing someone he had grown to care for, someone who with Lois insisting on seperating 'The Blur' from Clark Kent that he might have even grown to love since Tess took everything from Kansas Farmboy to Metropolis Blur to 'Last Son of Krypton' as part of a whole instead of seperate people who shared a body. There had only been two women, two people who had made him feel both special and normal at the same time, Alica and Tess, and he had lost both of them and parts of himself along with them...

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-o0o-

One...

He was old now, almost three hundred years old by Human age. He had seen friends and comrades marry, have children and grow old, he had known those children and in some cases considered them as close friends as their parents - sometimes, Clark remember, Terry would say something in that flat tone that seemed to forever characterise Batman and he would have to remind himself that Bruce wasn't the man wearing the batsuit anymore - only to see them grow old and pass on as well, and so on for generation after generation for the last three centuries. So many people had sought immortality and longitivity and only those who already had it knew what a curse it really was. Diana had gone back to her people long ago; Bart had passed on into the Speed Force; Vic, Ollie, AC, Hal, J'onn, Dinah, they were all gone and he was the only one that was left.

But not for long, and that thought made Clark smile.

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-o0o-

Zero.

There was a flash of light and the sound of thunder. When the current Green Lantern of Sector 2814 found the body of Superman, he respectfully brought it back down to Earth to be buried in the soil of the Kryptonian's adopted world, a world that had lost a hero when the 'Man Of Steel' had sacrificed himself to carry a Kryptonite-laced nuclear bomb out of Earth's atmosphere. Only Green Lantern and the other members of the Justice League would know that when the Power Ring-wielder had found the fallen hero, there had been a smile on Superman's face as though he had known and accepted that he wouldn't survive.


	8. She's A Rebel

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 26 March.

S4 AU, Alicia never told Chloe about Clark's powers, Clark managed to save her from Tim, and the doctors will be releasing her from the hospital tomorrow...

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. "She's A Rebel" is written and performed by Gene Pitney.

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"She's A Rebel"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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* * *

Legally, he was guilty of trespassing, the lone figure standing on the roof of Smallville High School in the middle of a clear Kansas night, but it was appropriate; the school was a major root of Clark Kent's current thoughtful mood. Some of the first things he'd ever been taught were responsibility and restraint and over the last few weeks he'd come to realise that it seemed like no one else in Smallville understood those concepts. Not his parents who couldn't tell the difference between the responsibilities that came with having powers and those that came with loving someone; not the former-friend who had shown no restraint or sense of responsibility when she had written the article that had caused the biggest part of the problem...

And definitely not all the people that had accused the woman he loved without any evidence besides something that had happened a year ago, nearly leading to her death. It would have led to her death if he had been just a minute later getting to her. That was his shame, that he'd allowed the fear and doubt his parents had instilled in him about what would happen if his powers became known, the fear and doubt that had been reinforced every time he'd fought someone who had been changed by the meteor rocks that were shards of his birth-world, to override his sense of responsibility to the woman he loved and he'd almost failed her because of that, almost lost her because of that; something that he had no intention of letting happen again.

"It's ironic," Clark observed, "Pa taught me to be a good man with a good heart, to always do the right thing... except this time, the right thing needs someone with more of Lionel Luthor's attitude of 'get behind me, get out of my way, or get run over' and complete lack of regard for other people. Who would have ever thought that someone trying to do something good would need to be so dark sometimes?"

He chuckled to himself, "But you know what, she's worth it. When she holds my hand I'm so proud, because she's not just one of the crowd. She's... special. And normal. She gives me hope that not everyone changed by the meteor rocks is going to be my enemy. Yes, she made mistakes a year ago, she had problems, but she's dealt with them, she's gotten better. Yet despite that they still say she's a rebel and a criminal and a 'freak' and she'll never, ever be any good. They say she's a criminal because she had problems, a 'freak' because of something no one had any control over... and she's a rebel 'cause she never, ever does what she should. Well, just because she doesn't do what everybody else does, that's no reason why I can't give her all my love. She's always good to me and good to her I'll try to be, 'cause she's not a rebel to me... or a criminal... or especially a 'freak'."

Reaching down, he picked up a brick that had somehow found its way onto the school roof. Turning it over this way and that, he looked at it thoughtfully before he looked up at the stars, idly wondering which - if any - of the ones he was seeing had been the red sun whose system had once held the planet Krypton before its death.

"And if they don't like her that way, they won't like me after today," Clark told the night sky, "Because I'll be standing right by her side, and anyone else that wants to threaten her, however they think about trying, they're going to have to do it in front of me..."

And as if to illustrate how he might just handle anyone that tried anything, Clark tossed the brick up into the air and caught it before putting it between his hands and pressing them together, crushing the brick into dust and pebbles and leaving him to dust off his hands.


	9. Loose Talk

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 29 March.

"We may have to leave here to have peace of mind, dear, some place where we can live a life all our own. I know you love me and happy we could be if some folks would leave us alone."

I was listening to my favorite internet radio station and when this song came on, my first thought was 'Hey, that sounds like Clark and Alicia during the time between 'Unsafe' and 'Pariah', when everyone in Smallville seems to be against them.'

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. "Loose Talk" is performed by Carl Smith.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Loose Talk"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Clark Kent groaned as he woke up to sunlight in his eyes heralding the start of another day in Smallville, Kansas. At one time this might have been a good thing, but now it meant another day of bigotry, hypocrisy and suspicion coming from everyone from people he barely knew all the way down the list to coming from his own parents. His own parents, the people who had taught him about not judging people and not believing everything you hear, that was the one that really hurt, the one that had caused him to essentially move out of their house into the loft over the barn.

A grinning face, framed by blonde hair, leaned over Clark and blocked out the sun before its owner commented cheerfully, "Good morning, sunshine!"

Clark gasped and gave his blanket a quick tug to make sure that everything was covered, "Alicia! Uh... What are you doing here?"

Using her powers, Alicia Baker teleported from where she was leaning over the back of the couch on which Clark was sleeping to stand in the middle of the floor on the other side of it, causing Clark to sit up and look at her and the serious look that overtook her face.

"We need to talk," Alicia said solemnly.

"No offense, Alicia," Clark replied carefully, "But last time you said that, you gave me a necklace and we ended up in Vegas."

She managed a grin, "Feel free to frisk me to make sure I don't have any more red rock with me, Clark."

"You're trying to distract me," Clark accused his girlfriend while trying to keep his mind off the thought that just frisking her might not be enough and maybe he should do a strip-search instead.

"Yeah," Alicia admitted as the forced grin fell away from her face, "I am, you're right."

Ignoring the fact that he was wearing nothing but his boxers, Clark stood up and put his hands on Alicia's shoulders, "Alicia, what's wrong?"

"I don't know if I can do this anymore, Clark," she whispered, "The whispers and hidden looks aren't the worst part, it's when they don't bother trying to hide anything that it hurts the most. It's like they hope I'll react so they can have an excuse to have me arrested... or worse..."

Clark took a step closer to her and his hands moved from her shoulders to her back as he wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.

"I can't even walk through town anymore, Clark," Alicia answered as she laid her head on his chest, trying not to cry, "When I go out walking, there's lots of loose talking; they say we're unhappy and we'll break apart."

Clark pressed his lips against the top of her head for a moment before he replied, "Alicia, you know that's not true, because I still love you and I do with all of my heart."

"They say that you'll leave me," Alicia whimpered into Clark's chest, "That you're just with me because you're afraid I'll hurt you if you try to leave me..."

"Yeah, right," Clark scoffed, "They should be the ones afraid of what I'd do to them if I caught them saying anything like that around me..."

He patted her on the back, "Don't worry, Alicia, it'll get better. We'll show them that they're wrong and eventually they'll see the truth."

Alicia pulled her head away from his chest and looked into Clark's eyes, "What if they refuse to see it?"

"Then we may have to leave here," Clark answered, "Move out of Smallville after graduation and find some place where we can live a life all our own. I know you love me and I know how happy we could be if people would leave us alone."

"You'd do that for me?" She asked.

"Anything for you, Alicia," Clark promised softly, neither of them knowing that a few short weeks later, Clark would curse himself for failing to live up to that promise.


	10. All's Fair

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 7 April.

Definite AU; Alicia survived 'Pariah', Lex and Kara are a couple, basically assume that events after season four never happened except for finding Kara.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. "County Fair" is performed by the late Chris LeDoux.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"All's Fair..."  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Clark Kent and Alicia Baker were walking down the midway of the county fair, taking in the lights and the laughter that surrounded them, Alicia's arms wrapped around one of Clark's own with her head on his shoulder as they walked.

"Guess what," Alicia remarked suddenly.

"Uh... I'm going to be a daddy?" Clark guessed.

"No!" Alicia gave him a quick elbow to the ribs that they both knew he didn't even feel, "You're not 'going to be a daddy', but I _do _see your second favorite blonde walking towards us."

Clark looked up just in time to see the aforementioned 'second favorite blonde' and her companion see Alicia and he and walk towards them.

"Hey, Kara," Clark greeted his cousin as soon as she got close enough to be in normal human conversational distance.

"Ka-Clark," Kara had started to call him by his birth name, but quickly corrected himself.

"Oh, sure, and I don't even rate a mention," Kara's escort rolled his eyes.

"Oh, Lex, that's you," Clark teased, "I thought I was looking at the moon."

"One more, Clark, one more hair joke," Lex threatened, "And I'll find some way to shave you in your sleep, even if I have to find some kind of Super-Nair to help do the job."

Knowing that if Clark and Lex started any game of one-upsmanship, they could be at it all night, Kara decided quickly to cut them off before the two men could get up any rhythm.

"Look what Lex won me," she held out the giant stuffed bear for inspection.

Clark smirked at his friend, "Lex, you could buy a stuffed animal twice that big with the loose change under your couch cushions, probably."

"Maybe," Lex conceded, "But it wouldn't have the same meaning as winning this one."

Clark chuckled and patted the other man on the shoulder, "See, now you're starting to get the hang of the whole 'money isn't everything' concept."

"So, how long did it take for him to win it?" Alicia asked suddenly.

"Uh, that's not really important, is it?" Lex asked, causing Kara to mouth 'twenty-eight tries'.

Alicia giggled, "Definitely learning money's not important, huh, Lex?"

Lex had a smirking grin on his face when he answered, "If I spend it faster than I make it, someday I might even be as rich as Oliver Queen."

The other three started laughing.

"That's mean, Lex," Kara finally managed to get out through her laughter, "That's really mean."

"No," Lex said with a straight face, "Mean would have been if I'd said Bruce Wayne."

He was only able to hold that straight face for a few seconds before he joined the others in their amusement.

"Lex," Clark finally said, "If business and politics don't work out, you've got a great future in stand-up comedy."


	11. Lex's New Pet

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 11 April.

You're never too old for your first pet.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. The Surgeon General warns that this fanfic also contains elements of "Krypto: The Superdog" and should not be taken in seriousness.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Lex's New Pet"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Detective stories always seemed to start out 'it was a dark and stormy night', so it quickly became a cliche. Not as much was said about the hot and sunny days where someone could fry an egg on a sidewalk and would almost sell their soul for an air conditioning unit. Though some people would go so far as to claim that Lex Luthor didn't have a soul to sell, he still felt the heat that Metropolis day and like many others entered a building to escape it. It was after he had blinked to clear his eyes and looked around that Lex realised that the building he had entered was a small pet store. The closest thing to a pet that Lex had known growing up were some of Lionel's guard dogs who were slightly more friendly towards him than others. Having a proper pet required patience, kindness and understanding towards others, all of which were things that the elder Luthor hadn't considered 'worthy' of a Luthor. For a moment, Lex considered leaving, but when he saw the temperature on a bank sign across the road, he ended up changing his mind. Minutes passed as Lex wandered around, looking at not just toys and accessories for cats and dogs, birds, fish and even rodents, but even at some animals themselves. Though one of the hamsters had looked interesting, it was the occupant of another glass tank that really caught Lex's attention enough for him to call over one of the store's employees.

"Why's this iguana in a tank by itself?"

"Well, for some reason, all the others stopped getting along with it," the employee explained, gesturing towards a second tank with other iguanas inside, "Don't quite know why."

"Yeah," Lex looked at the iguana again, "That happens, doesn't it."

The iguana looked at Lex and cocked its head as if to say, 'You too, huh?'

In that moment, a connection was formed.

* * *

-o0o-

It was in the cool of the evening when Lex looked at the new addition to his home; a five foot by two foot by two foot glass tank with the best sun lamps, heat rocks and iguana food that money could buy; held in his arms was the tank's soon-to-be resident.

Lex lifted the iguana and looked it in its reptilian eyes, "Ignatius, that's what I'll call you."

Then he added in a whisper, "Now we'll both have somebody we can trust to stick around."


	12. Duking It Out

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 14 April.

Just having a little bit of fun this time, putting "Smallville" characters in scenes from my favorite John Wayne movie. There's no plot and expect jumping around from scene to scene and some characters might play different roles in different scenes. Though I think I've managed to avoid the obvious scenes. But, all in all, don't take it seriously.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. "McLintock!"... I'm not sure who owns it, really.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Duking It Out"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

_The Chess Game_...

Lana put her hands on her hips and glared down at her estranged husband and his old friend seated facing each other across a chessboard, "You're not going to sit here all night and play chess while the matter of our daughter remains unsettled?"

"I _am_ going to sit here all night and play chess; and the matter of our daughter _is_ settled, she stays," Lex didn't look away from the chessboard as he spoke, then he moved a piece and added, "Your move."

Clark looked at Lex, "Are you talking to me or her?"

Lex tapped the chessboard with his finger and repeated, "Your move."

-o0o-

* * *

_The Clayslide Fight_...

"Stay out of this, Lex!" Clark snapped off at his friend as he ducked a punch from one of the football players.

"It's everybody's war!" Lex shot back as he took the opportunity to get a good jab in at the gut of one of the people that had blamed him for Lionel closing the plant down.

"And Ma and Pa want me to go to college," Clark remarked as he caught the football player with an uppercut.

"Ha! For this, you don't need college," Lex informed him as he grabbed his own opponent by the shirt and send them headfirst into a table.

-o0o-

* * *

_Mrs. Warren and Mrs. McLintock..._

"Actually," Tess answered in embarrassment, "I was wanting to tell Lex that I'd be leaving soon. You see, Clark Kent's asked me to marry him."

Lana raised an eyebrow, "Well, if you are marrying Clark, it seems to me that you're sitting on the wrong man's lap."

Tess looked down and blushed harder as she realised just what her current position was, but instead of getting angry, Lana extended a hand to help her up, "Come on upstairs, we'll have a long talk about men in general."

"And our two in particular?" Tess found herself asking as she got to her feet, causing Lana to look past her at where Lex was still laying drunk on the floor.

"Yeah, those two in particular."

-o0o-

* * *

_The Name's The Thing..._

"Luthor," Lionel fumed, "Just plan 'Luthor'..."

The elder Luthor shot Clark a quick glare, then turned back to glare at Swann, "And yet you call him 'Mister Kent', why?"

Professor Swann looked at Lionel calmly, "Well, Luthor, I suppose that it's because he's earned it."


	13. The Time Traveller's Dilemma

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 15 April.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. Two characters who appear within, however, are my own creations...

* * *

-o0O0o-

"The Time Traveller's Dilemma"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

The Time Traveller's Dilemma, better known as the 'Grandfather Paradox', is a real rhymes-with-witch. Let's get that clear right now and get it out of the way. The concept is a simple one; go back in time and alter history, the future you came from is changed. Then it gets complicated; some people - especially 'Back To The Future' fans - believe in the single timeline, you change the past and you change your future, but you yourself remain unchanged because you were the cause of the changes; others go with you being wiped from existance by doing that; some even believe in multiple timelines, that you don't actually change anything, you just create a new alternate timeline where different events took place.

Whatever. Here I am; Smallville, Kansas, 2001, sitting in a tree by the river and watching Clark Kent standing on a bridge looking down at the river. In about ten minutes, Lex Luthor is going to come speeding down that road, become distracted by his cell phone and go off the bridge, taking Clark with him and starting a chain of events that will lead to one of the worst hero and villain rivalries in the universe. I could stop it, you know - remove the roll of wire that Luthor hits or maybe distract Clark so that he leaves the bridge and Luthor never makes it out of his car. The problem is that this isn't 'Star Trek', it's not exactly easy for someone to say that the good of the many outweighs the good of the few or the one when they are the few or the one. If Clark and Luthor never become friends, they'll never have a falling out over Clark's secret. If they never have a falling out, Luthor will never take the Orb of Kandor to the arctic fortress to confront Clark with it and disappear afterwards. What makes that a problem for me is that without Lex disappearing, Clark Kent might never meet Tess Mercer - Lex's employee and secret half-sister. Family traditions can make for interesting names; Martha Clark marries Jonathan Kent, their adopted son is named Clark Kent. So, when Clark Kent marries Tess Mercer and they have a son, I end up with the name Mercer Kent, otherwise known as 'Merc-El' or the second Blur depending on who you're talking to.

There goes the truck and the roll of wire, Luthor will come speeding down that road any minute now. He'll hit Dad and they'll both go into the water. I can't base my decisions on what may or may not happen. At the moment the only thing Lex is guilty of is speeding and reckless driving, maybe with a little help it'll stay that way.

Now I'm seeing something I don't like. 'Aunt' Kara - really my Dad's cousin - is still in stasis, the two Zods and their followers are still imprisoned and Dad hasn't learned he's not just a super-powered human yet, much less how to fly, so there shouldn't be anyone in the air over Smallville. Leaving the tree I was perched in and flying up there, I take a moment to look them over; female, white bodysuit, blue boots and gloves, red cape, blond hair, blue eyes... Overall, they look eerily similar to Aunt Kara, except this girl only looks like she's about six or eight years older than me. Before I can say anything, I'm dodging a punch flying at me faster than any human except maybe Wally could throw one.

Turning to glare at Miss 'Shoot First' who is now behind me, I want to know, "What is your _problem_?"

"I can't let you save Lex Luthor. Trust me, it's better off for everyone if he dies."

I don't bother pointing out to her that it probably wouldn't be better for me; from the short time we've known each other already, she doesn't seem like the type who'd care, which leaves me with one important question, "Just who do you think you are?"

"My name is Lindsay Baker-Kent... but it's Power Girl to you."

My grandfather was Krypton's greatest scientist, my mother graduated college at fifteen and my father - despite his relaxed attitude - is no intellectual slouch either, so it doesn't exactly take me long to put some things together. Dad's first 'official' girlfriend was a blonde named Alicia Baker, but she was killed during their senior year at Smallville High. He doesn't talk about it much, but enough that I know that something happened involving a business associate of Luthor's named Teague, who also happened to be involved with Lana Lang at the time. There were attacks and threats, Dad and Alicia had a disagreement about going to the sheriff, they never got a chance to reconcile before her death. If Luthor hadn't been doing business with Teague, he might not have been there, events could have gone differently, Dad might have been there to save Alicia... They might have been the ones to marry and have a child, a daughter instead of a son... A daughter who could find herself thrown backwards in time just like I did... a daughter who's technically my half-sister...

But somehow, I get the feeling that 'sibling rivalry' might be an understatement. Well, at least I'm keeping the El tradition of family problems alive; Jor-El and Zor-El, when Kal-El - Dad - and Kon-El first met there were problems because of the situation surrounding Kon-El's existance... now me and Lindsay.

"They call me Blur," I tell her, popping my neck as I do so, "And sorry, but like it or not; Lex Luthor's staying alive."

...I hope.


	14. Cry Me A River

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 19 April.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens...  
"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.  
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."  
I think I'm going to have to start adding that to my Standard Spiel; some people are taking this project and the resulting stories and shorts way more seriously than I am. That is not a good thing, people...

As anyone who has been paying attention knows, one of the problems I have with Smallville lies in the circumstances surrounding Alicia's death and Chloe's part in it by telling everyone about her powers and ensuring that she'd find no aid and comfort from anyone in Smallville when Tim began to frame her. Despite this, after Alicia's death in 'Pariah', Chloe was right back to being one of Clark's best friends without any repercussions or consequences for her part in the situation that led to Alicia's death. This is an idea of what might have happened had Clark been a little less forgiving...

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Cry Me A River"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Something was wrong, that was the first thing that went through Chloe Sullivan's mind when she opened the door and entered her house, something felt wrong. Then she began to notice things, little things like the figurine that had been sitting on her table was facing the wrong direction; the floor seemed to be damp like someone had came in still wet from the rain outside despite the fact that no one should have been there while she was gone.

"Hello?" Chloe called out carefully, "Lois? Clark?"

Even though she called his name, Chloe wasn't sure if she actually wanted to hear Clark Kent's voice answer, ever since Alicia Baker had died, he'd changed. The only people he seemed to talk to freely anymore were the two Luthors; Lex was one thing considering that the two had been friends, but the entire town was uncomfortable with how close the Kents' son and the elder Luthor had become in recent months, holding private conversations about travelling, stones and truth that not even Lex could make sense of.

Then Chloe took a closer look at the figurine and noticed that it was facing the television and sitting on top of the all-in-one remote for the TV and DVD player. Frowning, Chloe picked it up and turned on the two devices and watched as images began to play; security camera footage from the skating rink and Smallville High, amatuer footage, all with two things in common... Alicia Baker and Clark Kent, they were in every scene, happy and in love. When the DVD started to come to its end, Chloe dropped the controller in shock at the sight of the two of them standing in front of a priest, reciting vows and exchanging rings. When the priest asked Clark if he took Alicia to be his lawfully wedded wife, with all that went with it, her former-friend's answer was deafening not by volume but by the emotion it contained.

"Hell, yes!" Clark had answered, looking at Alicia as though she were the only thing in the world that mattered to him. Chloe stood there, staring as the screen went black and Clark's voice came over the TV's speakers.

"Bridges have a lot of imagery, Chloe. People talk about building bridges and burning them when they talk about relationships with other people. You burned the bridges between us with that article about Alicia. I'm just cleaning up the rubble and burning the rest of mine. Clark Kent died with his wife, don't bother coming to look for me. You'll never find me, Lionel and I have made sure of that. I'd say 'Goodbye, Chloe'... but there's nothing good left between us now."


End file.
